1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to protective sealing apparatus and, more particularly, to a water resistant sealing apparatus for protection of ileostomy appliances, urostomy appliances, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well-known in the art, ileostomy appliances, urostomy appliances, colostomy appliance, etc. are widely known and used as a prosthetic utilized following various surgical procedures. Examples of such appliances appear in the prior art, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,774, issued in the name of Hooper et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,675,002, issued in the name of Desare, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,656,838, issued in the name of McConnell, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,445, issued in the name of Marsan.
Those faced with regular, extended usage of such appliances continually encounter a problem in keeping these appliances dry: if the appliance gets wet, its adhesive becomes ineffective, causing the bag to no longer adhere to the skin of the wearer. When this occurs, the appliance must be discarded and replaced.
Numerous attempts exist in the related arts for protection of such or similar appliances. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,614, issued in the name of McDowell et al., discloses a protective shield for a stoma pouch. However, the protective shield therein described requires the use of a face plate flange (35), and a shield having a rigid thin shell (50) such as to cause the device to be restrictive and bulky enough to be ineffective with urostomy and colostomy appliances.
Another example of a urostomy guard is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,206, issued in the name of Ederati et al. However, such a urostomy guard as disclosed in the Ederati et al. invention fails to provide a lightweight, watertight seal that is easily adaptable to fit a variety of people. Consequently, a need has been felt for providing such an apparatus.